Rest Easier

By Richard Nikoley | April 25, 2004 |
Good news to the tens of millions of lunkheads who take comfort in the fantasy that the U.S. government has their most basic needs and chosen values at heart, especially when it comes to "protecting our children" from the evils of drugs. You can rest easy now. Richard Paey, 45-year-old father of three, wheelchair bound and disabled from a car accident in 1985, suffering also from multiple sclerosis, is safely locked away for the next…Read More

Justice as a Principle – In Film

By Richard Nikoley | April 24, 2004 |
Usually when I hear talk of justice being served, I am not convinced that the concept is being used in the way that I think of it—In the way that it should be. Most often, it seems to me, “justice” is exercised as a practicality, as a tool, a public policy. Did Martha Stewart get justice? No, she got ego-“justice.” The nation-state pays lip service to “justice,” but what it is really doing is taking…Read More

Your Crack Can Land Your Ass in Jail

By Richard Nikoley | April 22, 2004 |
In case any of you "crack-pots" out there foolishly thought that the darkness of the crack of your butt was beyond the purview of government's big fat nose, think again. Louisiana lawmaker Derrick Sheperd has introduced a bill to ban the wearing of pants below the waist. The bill would make it a crime to do so, subjecting offenders to a fine of up to $500, jail time of up to six months, or both.…Read More

A More Appropriate Pledge

By Richard Nikoley | April 22, 2004 |
It seems to me that so long as we’re deciding whether such atrocities as invoking the generic concept of God in the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance can be tolerated, it struck me that it might be high time to modernize the whole Pledge outright. After all, it has been modified twice since being penned by socialist Francis Bellamy in the first place. And so, let me propose the following rewrite, such as to make it…Read More